


Paradox

by quartzen (sandstone78)



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 00:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7383997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandstone78/pseuds/quartzen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The laws of time forbid two incarnations of the same person from existing in the same place... What secrets are hidden in the halls of the Crystal Palace? Why were the guardians of Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn sent back to the outer reaches of the solar system in the time of Crystal Tokyo, forgotten and unknown even to the young princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paradox

Setsuna Meiou, Sailor Pluto, studied the face of the woman in the crystal coffin—so similar to her own, peaceful, as if she were merely sleeping. She was Setsuna’s previous incarnation, the previous Sailor Pluto, Guardian of the Space-Time Door, and Setsuna had been reborn nearly a thousand years before she had died. A paradox.  
Her other self had guarded the door for untold millennia. She had stopped time to save the world from Rubeus’ folly, and with it stopped her own heart.  
And if I had been able to stop the Black Moon’s invasion, she might still be alive.

~

A storm was building. Sailor Pluto gripped the Garnet Rod tighter, uneasy, and glanced at the door. You must never leave your post, the Queen had said. She thought of the Queen now, of Uranus and Neptune, and the four who guarded the Princess.  
All will be well without you, she told herself. The wind tore at her, and she hefted the Garnet Rod. “Garnet Ball!” A dome of light appeared, shielding herself and the door until the storm passed.  
The Space-Time Door opened; Sailor Neptune staggered through: alone, disheveled, clutching the Deep Aqua Mirror. “You are needed,” she said.

~

A wave of warmth washed over Setsuna. She surrendered…  
“Sailor Pluto!”  
Setsuna’s eyes snapped open. The enemy…! She struggled to her feet, noted in horror that she had lost her transformation… but checked her arm, her chest—whole, not… That doesn’t matter now.  
Only then did Charon Castle’s stillness register, and the insistent voice …  
“Guardian Pluto,” she acknowledged. “Report.”  
“Incoming video links from Triton Castle, Miranda Castle, Titan Castle, Crystal Tokyo…”  
Crystal Tokyo…? It was only then she remembered, and understood—the miracle of the Silver Crystal, she thought bitterly. We failed.  
“Accept incoming links, Guardian,” she said wearily.

~

Mamoru looked around in awe at the translucent crystal of the castle that he and Usagi—no, he and Neo-Queen Serenity—had raised from the ruined earth with the power of the Silver Crystal. She never ceased to amaze him, but this…! He looked at her, feeling a rush of warmth. “Usako…!”  
She laughed and squeezed his hand, radiant in her white dress. “Let’s explore, Mamo-chan!”  
“Yes,” he said breathlessly. He let her pull him along.  
They came to a dark and silent hall, with a great door. He froze. “Is that…?” They looked at each other. The Space-Time Door?

~

It was a nightmare. Surely it was a nightmare.  
The palace was in ruins, pristine white marble cracked and smoking, stained with blood… prone figures littered the ground, the lucky unconscious or dead, while the unlucky… Sailor Pluto fixed her eyes on Sailor Neptune’s back as Neptune led her to the Chamber of Prayer.  
The Queen was there, streaked with soot, and Sailor Uranus, anxious, bearing the Space Sword. A black-haired child lay unconscious before them. “Queen…” Sailor Pluto breathed.  
“All is lost,” the Queen said. “Your Talisman please, Sailor Pluto… and then you must return to the Space-Time Door.”

~

Time passed. A long time, though time flows differently in the realm beyond the Space-Time Door. There is neither day nor night; because Sailor Pluto is Chronos’ daughter, she needs neither food nor drink there. She measured time in heartbeats, and her heart kept beating.  
She was troubled by faces in the mist, and old regrets. All hope was not lost, despite the Queen’s words—through the Silver Crystal’s power, everyone would be reborn… in time.  
The Space-Time Door opened. Sailor Pluto whirled and leveled the Garnet Rod at the intruders… and froze at the sight of Serenity and Endymion.

~

“They can’t meet,” Mamoru said. “One or both of them would start to fade away, like the time when we came here from the past.”  
“But we have to tell her, Mamo-chan!” Usagi said. “We have to tell them both. Maybe we can figure something out. We can save both of them—if things go differently with Wiseman—”  
“But then what would happen to our Setsuna?” Mamoru said. “If she was never reborn, then Hotaru, and Haruka and Michiru…”  
Usagi stared at him. “Time travel makes my head hurt!” she wailed.  
Mamoru winced in sympathy. “Mine too,” he admitted.

~

“I… she was still alive?” Setsuna asked, feeling numb.  
“We tried everything we could, for things to work out differently this time,” the King said. “I'm sorry.” Setsuna looked at both of them numbly. Neo-Queen Serenity bit her lip, not meeting Setsuna’s eyes.  
“The power of the Silver Crystal…?”  
“It wasn't enough. The power of the taboo was stronger.” Usagi was trembling with unshed tears; Mamoru reached out to console her.  
“She stopped her heart,” Setsuna said. If I had been stronger…! If I had been able to stop Black Moon, she…! “Where is she? I want to see her.”

~

Sailor Pluto remained at her post, alone but heartened by the thought of Crystal Tokyo outside: its beautiful Queen, and its handsome King.  
The Space-Time Door opened. Sailor Pluto whirled and leveled the Garnet Rod at the intruder: a young girl, her hair tied up in odango. The girl’s eyes widened in fright. Sailor Pluto smiled gently and knelt before her. “I am pleased to meet you, Small Lady.”  
“Do you recognize me?” the girl asked dubiously. “Or are you just being polite?” Sailor Pluto rose.  
“Only the royal family may enter,” she said, “so you must be the princess.”

~

Setsuna Meiou approached the Space-Time Door slowly, haunted by her other self’s memories of the place. She knew who she would find when she opened the door. The mists of time reached out to welcome her, and a young voice cried out “Halt!” A bell tinkled, and the fog cleared to reveal Diana and Sailor Chibi Moon, scepter raised in warning. Her eyes widened. “Setsuna?”  
“Tell me what she was like,” Setsuna said. “I want to know everything.” Chibiusa let out a sob and ran forward to embrace her; Setsuna pulled her close, the icy numbness finally beginning to melt.

**Author's Note:**

> Sailor Pluto's timeline is convoluted! The Pluto we see in the Black Moon arc seems to be the same Pluto that was alive during the Silver Millennium, but then she dies and is reborn as Setsuna Meiou in the past timeline with Usagi and the others during the Infinity arc...
> 
> Chibi-usa remarks that Setsuna is different and stronger than her previous incarnation, so I don't believe the Pluto she knew in Crystal Tokyo was Setsuna's future self... which begs the question, what happened to the Outers in the time of Crystal Tokyo?
> 
> The obvious explanation is that Naoko Takeuchi hadn't come up with them yet, but I decided to plug that plot hole and resolve Pluto's timeline at the same time- after watching Sailor Moon Crystal, where the Pluto who dies in Black Moon arc is laid to rest in a crystal coffin, I wondered what would happen if Setsuna came across her...


End file.
